Pitching to Ohtani could be costly for Blue Jays

For all the times the Toronto Blue Jays walked Shohei Ohtani, they lost Game 3 of the World Series because of the one time they did not walk him.

- BILL SHAIKIN COLUMNIST

THE DODGERS' Shohei Ohtani watches umpire Mark Wegner hold up four fingers as he's intentionally walked in the 13th. Ohtani homered in the seventh when Toronto chose to pitch to him.

(ROBERT GAUTHIER Los Angeles Times)

They learned their lesson, four times over.

Here's another Babe Ruth comparison: Ruth played in 41 World Series games. He was intentionally walked twice.

On Monday, in one World Series game, Ohtani was intentionally walked four times.

The situation called for it-no, begged for it in the seventh inning. The Blue Jays led, 5-4, with one out and the bases empty.

Ohtani already had batted three times, with two doubles and a home run.

On a night they would eventually use four pinch-runners, they already had removed two of their four most potent bats in George Springer and Bo Bichette. They needed to win in regulation, and they were eight outs away. As Ohtani stepped toward the plate, the Jays held a conference on the mound.

There really wasn't much to discuss. Their pitcher, Seranthony Domínguez, had held right-handers to a .132 batting average and .451 OPS this season-and left-handers to a .277 average and 816 OPS.

Mookie Betts, who bats right-handed, was on deck. Freddie Freeman, who bats left-handed, would have followed Betts, but he did not have three extra-base hits already.

The Blue Jays did not issue the obvious intentional walk to Ohtani.